It's Monday, the Cats are the new No. 1 team in the country, and we're all just living in their shadow. Don't try to fight it. Do, however, send me links and posts via Twitter. Now, on with the links:

As the last unbeaten team in the nation, today Kentucky officially ascends to the No. 1 spot atop both the AP and Coaches Polls. This has inspired several questions, not least of which is, "Is Kentucky actually this good?" and "When will Kentucky lose, if ever?" The first question is being pondered by the Cats fans over at A Sea Of Blue, which reasonably concludes that Syracuse, Texas, Kansas and Duke are all teams Kentucky would rightfully be an underdog to, while there are 10-to-15 teams capable of upsetting the talented Cats. Probably all true. Given that Kentucky's Pomeroy, Sagarin and Basketball State rankings all have Kentucky as either the No. 6 or No. 9 team in the country is reason enough for this distinction. Meanwhile the second question -- When will Kentucky lose? -- gets a treatment at The Dagger, where Matt Norlander outlines Kentucky's next major challenges on the road to its possible SEC title and NCAA tournament run.

Bruce Weber is refusing to let his Illini players talk to the media. "Until they start talking and taking leadership, they're not talking to anyone else," Weber said. "I don't know when it will end. I hope it ends soon. Somebody's got to take this team and go with it, but right now, it's not happening." Losing by five at Northwestern wouldn't seem worthy of this sort of response -- that's not the worst loss ever, you know -- but Weber has been unhappy with his team's leadership for weeks, and he doesn't appear to have changed his mind.